GETTING HERE
Matches will happen in Kresge Hall. However, check-in will occur in Harris Hall in the Harris auditorium from 8:00 to 8:30.The address is 1881 Sheridan Rd., Evanston, IL, 60208. Matches will start at 9 or as soon as all teams get there. Once we're in Kresge, tournament central will be room 4-425. Kresge's address is 1880 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL, 60208. Please park in the Lakeside Parking Structure, which is located at 1 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston, IL, 60208. An interactive map can be found here.

HOTELS
If you're spending Saturday night (or Friday night for that matter) in Evanston, I would recommend the Hilton Orrington, which is within walking distance. The Best Western University Plaza is also within walking distance but a few blocks farther.

FEEEEEEEEES!
Post here with number of teams, number of competent moderators, number of buzzers, and other things that might get you discounts such as miles traveled or your club's poorness. This is the fee structure:

Registration fees and other discounts:
Base fee per team: $120
Functional buzzers: -$10 each (This is limited to two systems, or -$20, per school, but schools should bring as many systems as they can.)
Competent moderators: -$10 each (No limit.)
Travel (per school): -$15 per 200 miles (one-way, determined by Mapquest)

Minimum fee per school (including packet discounts): $40

Checks should be made out to Northwestern Quizbowl and brought on the day of the tournament.

PACKETS
If anyone on a team is a college student who has played college quizbowl before 9/1/09, that team must submit a packet to play. Any team, however, can write a packet and get a discount. So, no, high schoolers don't have to write. Guidelines:

TOURNAMENT FORMAT
Everyone is guaranteed 11 matches. The prelims will be a round-robin among the teams in two brackets of nine teams each. The three best teams from each bracket (as determined by win-loss record then points-per-game) will advance to the championship bracket, the next best three teams will go to the consolation bracket, and the next best three teams to the second consolation bracket. Please note that, in the playoffs, you will not replay any teams from your preliminary bracket. Prelim matches against teams from the same prelim bracket will be carried over to the playoffs. In other words, two teams may be starting the playoffs 0-2. There are only 13 non-finals packets. Advancement to the advantaged final will be decided by W-L record in the playoffs then PPG in the playoffs.

Just something to keep in mind, Penn Bowl Trash is written as a full tournament on its own, so unless you only use a subset of the rounds (or TUs only), it might be pushing it to run it after Penn Bowl Saturday.

I can enter one team from UIC for your Saturday Penn Bowl mirror. My packet is forthcoming later in January. Once the spring semester begins in a fortnight, I can inquire about interest in your potential Sunday Penn Bowl trash mirror.

Congratulations to Kyle Busch (#18 NSCS, #18 NNS, & #18 NCWTS) + Samantha Sarcinella on their New Year's Eve wedding. I know that Kyle will love my wedding gifts, for I went onto one of their wedding registries given to me by one of his people at Kyle Busch Motorsports.

Rom Masrour
president of RomNation at the races
2011 INDYCAR, 2012 NASCAR, 2012 GRAND-AM, & 2012 American Le Mans Series hard card holder
licensed crew member for car #51 in the 2011-2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series & car #15 in the 2012 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series
"I'm glad you were at Kentucky for Ed's win instead of me."
"Rommy is better known in the paddock than half the drivers are."
"Drivers love Rommy even more than Rommy loves them."

I'm going to ask schools to finalize their number of teams by Monday 1/24 so I can start arranging for moderators. This is approximately when I'll officially close the field, which is capped at 24 teams.

An announcement for PB trash, to be held on Sunday, should be coming sometime this week.

All right, so the field is closed as is. We'll do full RR +finals. I had to close it due to lack of moderator interest. I'll try to get more local and NU moderators, and I'll lift the limit on moderator discounts in case that helps. If I do get more moderators, I'll let in some number of teams off the wait list (depending on number of mods and packets). Teams will be let in off the list in the order they are on the list, with the exception that preference will be given to teams who provide staff.

Cheynem wrote:The grumpy old man in me is a bit distraught that a mixed HS team of apparently two people is taking up a field spot instead of innumerable collegiate teams on the wait list.

The 7 collegiate teams on the wait list had more than 15 days to claim additional spots. Anyhow, it looks like I'll have at least enough moderators to maybe get to 15, but that also depends a lot on the packet situation. I'm waiting to hear back from Mehdi about that. Of course, I'm also still accepting staffers, but, the only other offer I have is Donald, and I don't have anywhere he can stay.

So, Lawrence B and Michigan B should let me know by Sunday 1/30 if they want these potential spots.

Ok, I fixed the Chicago mistake, and I put Michigan C in the field. Currently I have enough staffers to run an 18 team tournament. It should be noted though that many of the scenarios for 15 or 18 would require 14 rounds + finals, and I think many of our NU staffers will not have time to stay for that due to work and other commitments. I'll talk to them at practice tonight, and if that's the case, we might have to try really hard to get to 21 teams. I think that way 3 of 7 into 6/6/6/3 will at least get us out of there 2 rounds earlier. However, 21 teams is also contingent on getting a couple staffers that NIU said they might be able to provide but which are still tentative at this point.

UIC will bring its lockout system that worked so well at SCT to Penn Bowl--Northwestern proper and trash. It is in my Rommobile trunk as I write.

Recording Sunday's Daytona 500 qualifying to prepare for next Thursday in the pits,
Rom

Rom Masrour
president of RomNation at the races
2011 INDYCAR, 2012 NASCAR, 2012 GRAND-AM, & 2012 American Le Mans Series hard card holder
licensed crew member for car #51 in the 2011-2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series & car #15 in the 2012 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series
"I'm glad you were at Kentucky for Ed's win instead of me."
"Rommy is better known in the paddock than half the drivers are."
"Drivers love Rommy even more than Rommy loves them."

Everyone should check to make sure that the announcement post accurately reflects the number of discounts for buzzer systems, staffers, travel, packets your team will be receiving so that you can pay us the correct amount on Saturday. If not, post about it ASAP. If you're not sure how much you owe because you received a miscellaneous discount, email me.

Well we're in a bad situation. Brad Fischer was bringing himself and 1-2 moderators, but they canceled this afternoon. Additionally, the only two extra Northwestern people will be leaving around noon because of prior commitments. This means we cannot field a house team without more moderators. If anyone wants this 18th spot, let me know ASAP, or if anyone can supply more moderators, please let me know. Also, if anyone has extra players, we can always make a scab team. Let me know if you have extra players.